As I see none of you seems to have read the other thread, "The Queen English is dead" etc., I transcript my post here.
Yes, Mr. Pullum explicitely says he applies but not endorses what the prescriptive authorities generally say.
I've read (not skimmed) the article. Agreed, a fair comment.
The Society can retire.
I'm no prescriptivist as long as I can understand what's written. I definitely do think our young ones are not well instructed in the usage of the native written language. Could be there is no other way. Large amounts of immigrants, devaluation of respect towards teachers, low wages etc. I have a son who came into my household at the age of 5 speaking only lingala, the river dialect in Congo. His yourney into learning Dutch was really an exciting experience, but I'm happy we usually talk and need no communication through letters.
Back to QES:
Even in Mr.Pullum's carefull comments I've found a sentence that confused me because it did not read well:
"It's extraordinarily bad when judged by the sort of standards that one might expect an organization of educated professional people devoted to the protection of Standard English and education in its use."
I've had to read it twice and suspect he forgot 'of ' before 'an organisation'. No big deal but it hinders the train of thought while reading. I.e nobody's perfect.
Last edited by BranShea; 06/27/12 07:29 PM.
